Pack of the Day 173: A Discounted Rack Pack of 2016 Topps Heritage High Numbers

I've been visiting the local Walmart stores in search of the supposedly released new 2017 Topps WWE Women's Division cards that are exclusive to that retailer. So far they haven't been stocked anywhere in my area. On most of my visits I just walk away without buying anything, but I broke down one time and pulled something from the clearance bin.

You know the pickings are slim if I am buying Heritage at retail. I like Heritage as an idea, but busting packs of it is a little mind-numbing for me. I grew up as a collector in the mid-90's, so I am accustomed to being wowed by foil and inserts everywhere. This discounted rack pack of 2016 Topps Heritage High Number was the only thing on the shelf that caught my eye, so I bought it.

I didn't bother to scan the whole pack, but here are a handful of base cards that stood out to me, either because they are current Astros (Morton and Harris) or because I collect their cards (Reynolds) or because I think some other blogger collects their cards (Reimold).

I had to check the little codes on the back of the cards to see if I got anything special, since there were no apparent inserts in the pack. The Max Kepler card is a short print, and the Michael Fulmer card is an error variation card that's pretty rare. The error variation is on the back of the card, which lists his position as PITHCER instead of PITCHER. A couple of them have sold on eBay recently in the $20 range, so it's a pretty good pull from a retail discount pack of Heritage. Now I just need to see if I can find some of those new WWE cards. I'll probably hit up the Walmart stores between work and home this evening.

At the Trade Deadline 35: A Packed Package from San Jose Fuji

Like many other bloggers, I recently received a package in the mail from San Jose Fuji. It was full of awesome cardboard, cloth, and ink that touched on many of my player collections. Also included was this highly-coveted San Jose Fuji autographed card, with all of his particulars on the back.

First up are two of my main player collections, R.A. Dickey and Josh Reddick. Dickey's presence comes in the form of a Tier One Relic from 2013 Topps Tier One. It's hard to believe Dickey's been with the Blue Jays for so long. It feels like just a few months ago that he was traded from the Mets, but it's been a bit longer than that. Reddick is represented by an autograph from 2007 Just Minors, an unlicensed set that I don't know a whole lot about. I've seen these cards on eBay quite a bit, but I've never actually grabbed one for my collection. Now I've got one, although Zistle tells me there are several parallels to chase.

Jose Baustista is a guy I kind of collect, but with his mammoth power and charisma I can't keep up with his card prices. One eBay seller I watch has been offloading a crazy Bautista collection recently. I really like the Blue Jays' color scheme. This Bautista is a Clubhouse Collection relic from 2014 Topps Heritage. Homer Bailey has tossed a couple of no-hitters in his career, but has struggled with injury over the last couple of seasons. His 2015 was cut short by Tommy John surgery, so we'll see how well he is able to come back from that. He wears my favorite jersey number (34) and also appeared on the very first printing plate I pulled from a pack, way back in 2013. The Bailey card is a Futures Game relic card from 2007 Bowman Draft, one of those 'other' Bowman sets.

I'm always a fan of a good Max Scherzer card, although again I am not able to full-on PC all of the guys I would like to. I do set his cards aside, though, as cards I would like to keep in my collection. This is a nice horizontal Clubhouse Collection relic from 2015 Topps Heritage Baseball. I didn't open hardly any Heritage this year (if I am recalling things correctly), so I didn't really get a look at all of the relics and inserts that were on offer. My blog posts tell me that I opened a blaster of it at some point, but it wasn't anything near the several hobby boxes I opened of 2014 Heritage. I held steady or probably purchased more single cards this year, but I opened a lot less wax than I did in 2013 and 2014. That is a trend that I see continuing in the foreseeable future, unfortunately.

This Mark Reynolds Young Star Signatures autograph hails from the 2008 Upper Deck SPx set. Reynolds is/was one of those low-average high-power guys who seems to hang around for a while just because they might just hit a bunch of home runs. In fantasy baseball they are kind of like Dwight Howard is in fantasy basketball. You hope that their good stats do enough to counteract their bad ones. I got bitten by the Mark Reynolds bug and probably drafted him in every league from 2009-2012. His average almost always dragged my team down more than his home runs helped me. The way it would work is that I would leave him in my lineup all the way through his cold streaks, then I would get frustrated and bench him the day before he had a 2-homer game. Then I would put him on my roster again and he would go cold just long enough for me to bench him for his next hot run. Every. Single. Time. Chris Davis has been the same way lately. He kind of picked up the mantle for my fantasy teams once I finally broke the Mark Reynolds habit. I PC the guy just because he has sunk so many of my fantasy seasons. I hope he signs somewhere this offseason so I can carry him on my roster for a couple of weeks next year.

This last card could be my favorite one of the package. It's an autograph by Jeff Lewis from Cryptozoic's The Guild Seasons 1-3 card set. In The Guild he plays Herman Holden, the Guild Leader who has a difficult time keeping The Knights of Good on task and running smoothly. His in-game character is named Vork. I've purchased a few boxes of these cards, but I haven't come very close to completing a master set. There are two autographs that present a major obstacle if I were to pursue the master set, Wil Wheaton and the other Felicia Day autograph of her as her in-game character Codex. I have Felicia Day's autograph of her as Cyd Sherman, but the Codex variation is more scarce and commands a higher price. What I'd really like to do is just buy a case of these cards and roll the dice that those tough autographs are in there. Felicia Day is super cool, but I think Herman / Vork is my favorite character in the series. Maybe I identify a little with him?

This was a great package to open up and sort through. I've still got a handful of cards that I promised to send out to complete a prior mailing, but I haven't got them in the mail yet. They are packed up and set aside, though, so it's not a matter of if, but when. Thank you for the cards, Fuji!

What's in the Box 3: A Mix-Up and a Fix-Up with Collector Crate

Collector Crate is a relatively new subscription service that sends out a mystery box of trading cards and related items on a monthly basis. They offer three levels of subscription which increase in price but also increase the value of the packs they send in the box. Currently they are offering baseball, football, and basketball boxes, and if there is enough demand they will probably roll out a hockey subscription at some point.

October was their first subscription month, and I ordered a box of the lowest (Bronze) level to see what it was all about. My conclusion was that at that price point it would be hard to compete logistically with the 20 packs + a hit repack boxes you find at Target. The higher levels offer better stuff like packs with guaranteed hits, so if you've got the cash that might be the way to go. I couldn't really justify the expense as a monthly thing, so I sent a message to Collector Crate using the 'Contact Us' form on the website asking them to discontinue my subscription.

A few days ago I was going over our finances and noticed that there was a charge on the card from Collector Crate for the monthly subscription amount. Because I had other transactions going through on that card I realized that I might have an issue on my hands. So I sent out messages and e-mails to express my displeasure at being charged when I had sent a message to cancel my subscription. After a while I got a reply from Collector Crate through Facebook offering to refund the money, and because November's shipping had already occurred, to keep the box that was shipped to me free of charge. A little later they came back and said that the box had been flagged and had not yet left the warehouse, so if I told them a couple of my favorite teams they would put together a box for me and still make the shipment. I replied that I wasn't looking to get something for free or put them out, and that refunding my payment would be good enough for me. They insisted, so I told them I liked the Astros, Blue Jays, and Athletics and said I would give them a mention on my blog. Here is what was inside the box that arrived in the mail:

This was the baseball-related swag that was in the box along with the packs. I got decals for the A's and Astros, and a little baseball with the Blue Jays logo on it. I got a little bag of sunflower seeds. When I was a combat arms soldier I chewed a lot of sunflower seeds and grew to really like some of the different flavors that have popped up, like Dill Pickle and Nacho Cheese. If I eat too many of the regular salted ones my mouth gets a little burnt. Now that I work in an admin role I don't chew seeds much. The pack of TeenyMates contained a Padre and a Pirate along with puzzle pieces for the Astros and Braves. The pack of 100 card sleeves will go to good use, as you can always use more card supplies.

There were 10 packs in the main part of the box, and I will follow the example of other bloggers by showing the 'best' card from each pack. There is no guarantee that my definition of best will match up with anyone else's definition. I'm showing them in the order I opened them in.

And we kick things off with what would turn out to be the hit of the break, with a Max Scherzer Blue Refractor from 2010 Topps Chrome. It is numbered # 113 / 199, and the fact that it was the hit of the break tells you pretty much all you need to know about how the pack-breaking went. The Chipper Jones was the Special Engraved Foil Card advertised on the front of the 1993 Bowman pack. 2009 Uper Deck Series 2 proved so boring that a team checklist made the cut as the top card of the pack, featuring Huston Street, who I picked mostly because of all the angst and press he has generated in the fantasy baseball world during his career. A Jim Thome Authentic Achievements insert card gets the nod from the 2008 Upper Deck Authentic SP pack. It's a decent-looking card, even if the foiled lettering is difficult to read.

Up next are 1996 Leaf Preferred, 2014 Topps Update, 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces, and 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen. The two Topps products are both Hobby packs, so that means better odds on inserts and stuff than you'd get in Retail packs.

It was a tough choice between the metal card (Fred McGriff) in the Preferred pack or the Piazza checklist. In the end the mullet and mustache combo won out. I've discussed why Mark Reynolds is a PC guy for me before, but I don't follow him closely enough to know if he's still on a roster. The one image of Vladimir Guerrero that sticks in my mind is the gif of him hitting a ball after it's bounced in the dirt. This isn't it, but this is another good one that takes a swing at 50 Cent's horrible first pitch during the 2014 season. I've heard the yips can sneak up on anyone:

I don't have a lot of love for the Spahn card, but there wasn't a lot to choose from in the Gypsy Queen pack. The insert won by default.

The 2014 Stadium Club and the 2013 Topps Mini packs were included in the 10 Bronze-level packs that went into the box. The 2013 Topps Chipz and the 5-pack of 2013 Topps Series 1 were loose in the box as extras.

There wasn't much of note in those packs, so I turned this scan into a Wilin Rosario supermix. That Gypsy Queen Rosario didn't come from the Topps Series 1 5-pack. I just thought it would be more interesting this way. One of the Chipz appears to be a Glow-in-the-Dark parallel, but it was a Yankee and I left it out. The Stadium Club pack had a Rainbow Foil card of Jose Reyes, which was cool, but I skipped it because it is a horizontal card and between the mini and the Chipz this scan was convoluted enough already.

The final thing in the box was the relic/auto pack, a little yellow envelope with some cards inside. At the Bronze level you are guaranteed two cards that may be relics or autos. The exclusive this month was the Derek Jeter sketch print card, featuring art drawn especially for Collector Crate to use in their boxes. The hits in the packs were a Lance Berkman relic from 2003 Leaf Certified and a Shawn Green autograph from 1997 Donruss Signature Series. They are pretty nice cards, although the Berkman relic card is pretty beat up along the edges. The Donruss Rated Rookie Mark McGwire card was a bonus addition to the hit pack.

I scanned the backs to show that the Berkman relic was numbered # 186 / 250.

As far as the packs go, this break was a whole lot weaker than the one I did last month, when I pulled a couple of autographs and a numbered Mike Trout card. Collector Crate doesn't have any control over that, though, and I think the packs were probably of a slightly higher quality here. All of the Topps products included in the 10 packs for the Bronze level were Hobby packs, and there are some decent cards that can come out of most of them. I am sort of disappointed that Collector Crate caught hte box before it shipped, because I can't know for sure which components are from a normal Bronze-level packout and which ones were added later because of the issue I had with the payment.Going by what I've seen from other breaks this month, I am guessing that the car sleeves, the two loose packs (2013 Topps Chipz, 2013 Topps Series 1 5-pack), and maybe the Mark McGwire were added to the box, and it could be that the 10 Bronze-level packs were upgraded at least partially toward the Silver level.

I am not sure if I will start a subscription back up at any point in the future, but Collector Crate went out of their way to fix the problem I had and make sure I was happy. They didn't have to send me a box, but they did and I appreciate that. If you are looking to contact them about something in regard to your account, I would suggest using Facebook or direct e-mail, as the 'Contact Us' feature on their website does not appear to be a solid way to actually contact them.

I have noticed that after the first month's shipments started being opened and reviewed, Collector Crate went out and read the reviews and tried to respond by taking customer suggestions into consideration. They added the feature to allow you to choose some teams that will be emphasized in your swag and hit pack, and it looks like they have tweaked the pack distribution in response to complaints about things like the 5-card Topps packs and a high Retail : Hobby ratio in the pack mix. I still think it will be hard for their Bronze-level subscription to compete value-wise with other products available to collectors at retail outlets, but their higher-level boxes seem to deliver a pretty good value that isn't replicated by any products you can get from Target or Shopko. They're off to a pretty good start, and I hope they are able to keep a good foothold and grow their business. I was pretty irritated about the mix-up with my subscription cancellation, but Collector Crate went above my expectation to make sure the issue was resolved.

At the Trade Deadline 23: Package from the Quarry

A while back, hiflew over at Cards from the Quarry expressed an interest in the 1986-design cards from 2014 Topps Archives. I have purchased a fair amount of that product and sent the doubles I had from the set his way. In return he sent me a package that touched on many of my player and team collections. Headlining the package was the above white-framed parallel from this year's Gypsy Queen product. While the base Gypsy Queen cards tend to leave me a bit cold, I think the frames really add a lot to the cards and look quite nice. But outside of participating in a 5-box online break a couple of months ago I haven't gone out of my way to chase down any of the cards. It was nice to get this card that I otherwise might have missed out on.

I don't have a lot of Josh Reddick's earlier stuff from his time with the Red Sox, which makes it nice to pick up some of his Rookie Cards, like this one from Bowman. I am pretty sure I didn't have this Hakeem Olajuwon card, either, as when I went through my Olajuwon cards a while back I was surprised at how many base cards of his I was missing.

I didn't have any of the Camo parallels from Panini's Prizm product. Even without logos, this Jose Bautista card is pretty sweet. I'm surprised that Panini chose to use a photo with team members in the background, as that means they had to paint out more logos. Topps would have just zoomed the photo way in to avoid it.

The rainbow-era Astros got some love in this package, with a pair of 1980 Topps cards and some early 90's stuff in the form of a Ken Forsch Swell Baseball Greats card from 1990 and a 1991 Topps Stadium Club card featuring a slightly-less-rainbowy-than-the-rest Curt Schilling.

Another player collection got some representation, with Mark Reynolds being shown both batting and fielding. It's surprising that the ball appears in that top card. I wonder if Topps' zoom button was broken on that photo? Jose Bautista also makes another appearance on an insert from 2012 Topps.

Josh Reddick makes a couple more appearances wearing a minor league uniform and his Oakland A's garb, followed up by a few more members of the Houston Rockets. The most notable Rocket in the stack is Clyde Drexler, who glided his way to a berth in the Hall of Fame along with an NBA Championship, a spot on the 1992 Dream Team, and numerous individual awards and accolades.

Finishing off the trade package are a couple of team lots from the Astros and Mariners, spanning many sets and decades. There is a little of everything here. I feel a little bit like those folks who try to collect every card of specific teams are completely nuts, as even just collecting the base cards from every product and every team would be ridiculously hard. There are sets here that I've never even heard of.

This was a pretty cool trade package, and it was good to get something neat in return for a bunch of doubles that were sitting in my Archives stack. Thanks, hiflew!

2013 SEGA Card-Gen Extravaganza 3: Cleveland Indians

Up next in the 2013 SEGA Card-Gen set are the Cleveland Indians, with 14 cards in the team set. Five players are featured wearing the uniforms of other teams. As usual, we kick things off with a catcher. If you like catchers and Card-Gen cards, Zippy Zappy over at Cervin' Up Cards just ran a post showcasing all of the catchers in the 2012 SEGA Card-Gen set. Go check it out.

Carlos Santana has been absolutely miserable this year. It's probably because I drafted him in one of my money leagues this season. And of course the second I move him to the bench in favor of Derek Norris, Norris goes 0 / 4 and Santana hits a home run. Fantasy baseball is a cruel game. Not as cruel as fantasy football, but it's a longer, slower kind of pain.

Mark Reynolds appears here in his Baltimore Orioles uniform. He led his league in strikeouts four years in a row with the Diamondbacks and Orioles. His home run totals during those four years were 28, 44, 32, and 37, which kept him in the lineup for the most part. In the year that he hit 44 homers he also stole 24 bases and hit .260, which is about 30 points higher than his career average. He spent part of 2013 with the Indians, played in a little over 30 games with the Yankees, and is currently being somewhat productive with the Brewers. I've always kinda liked the guy, even though the thing he's really good at in fantasy baseball is sucking the life out of your team's batting average. I will generally grab his cards when I find them, but I don't really seek them out on purpose.

At second base we have a decent action shot of Jason Kipnis. The back of his card says he is 'ready to shine,' and in 2013 he stepped up from his already pretty good 2012 numbers, with upticks in home runs, RBIs, and batting average. If your 2B can hit 15-20 home runs and steal 30 bases, you're doing pretty well. I got him on one fantasy roster this year, so he is currently on the DL with an oblique injury. He is supposed to be back soon, though, and hopefully will be able to come back a little better than the way he started off the year.

Mike Aviles come onto the scene in a pretty big way in 2008 with the Royals, but has had a hot-and-cold career since, spending time with the Red Sox before moving to Cleveland. As noted on the back of his card, his value seems to lie primarily in versatility. According to his Baseball Reference page, Aviles has made appearances at five positions this season, with the bulk of those being at second and third base. On this card he is pictured as a member of the Red Sox, although he was traded from the Red Sox to the Blue Jays and then, 13 days later, traded from Toronto to Cleveland.

Cabrera is pretty good, ranking as a top twenty-ish shortstop in fantasy baseball over the last couple of years. His peak thus far was his 2011 season, but he hasn't exactly fallen off a cliff and is still relatively young. He's got a little bit of power and a little bit of speed, which is generally a good thing coming out of the shortstop position in fantasy games.

Michael Brantley fills in the left field slot for the 2013 SEGA Card-Gen Indians. He is actually a pretty useful utility outfielder in fantasy baseball terms, filling in on days when your main guys aren't playing or are injured.

Here we have another Indian in another team's uniform, this time Drew Stubbs wearing Reds colors. He was in Cleveland for one season (2013) and is now doing okay in Colorado with the Rockies. I know next-to-nothing about the guy, though. It looks like he is putting up good numbers, but with limited playing time.

I am beginning to wonder if anyone in this team set is going to be shown in a Cleveland uniform. We're eight players into this thing and this is the fourth appearance by a non-Indians uniform. This time it is Nick Swisher, formerly of the New York Yankees.

Chris Olds, an editor over at Beckett (I'm sure he has some actual title like Chief Inflator of Book Value or something, but me = lazy) has a huge man-crush on Swisher. There are even rumors that he has used his position to inflate the (book) price of Swisher's cards, although as a player collector you would think he'd try to keep them depressed to hold down demand and get more Swisher cards for his dollar. I kind of like the look Swisher's got on his face here as he tosses his bat.

I don't know why this photo really wants to be right-aligned, but if I try to center it up then the whole post goes nuts. I could spend the rest of my evening fighting the formatting or I could finish this post up and have one photo out of alignment.

He went to high school in Beavercreek, Ohio. Why is that relevant? Because I lived there for a little while when I was young and my dad was stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near there. Masterson had a good year in 2011 and a good year in 2013, so he is due to have another good year next year.

Okay, it looks like the right-alignment is a thing from now on. I guess I will deal with it. Ubaldo Jiminez can sometimes have an exciting strikeout rate, but his ratios will often kill your fantasy team. It seems like once I hit the pitcher portion of these posts I have largely run out of steam and don't have as much to say. Sorry about that.

Brett Myers appears on a few 'biggest jerks in baseball' lists and apparently once punched his wife in front of a crowd of bystanders. He isn't currently signed with any team.

Pestano was pretty good in 2011 and 2012. He was not so good in 2013, and didn't last long in 2014 before getting sent back down to find his consistency. In the good years he was an attractive fantasy pitcher because of his strong K/9 rate.

Oh, hi, Mr. Most Generic Name ever. He's a pretty consistent guy in the bullpen. I haven't heard much about him at all, and in the case of bullpen arms that's usually a good thing. The guy who blows a million leads is the guy whose name everyone knows. He's currently pitching for the Angels. Well, not right at the moment probably. But he's on their roster and pitches occasionally.

Chris Perez was the Indians' closer for a couple of years. He was more or less effective at the job, but it seems like some bad blown saves and a horrible relationship with the fans and media did him in. Now Cleveland doesn't really have a closer. I guess they liked having a lot of drama and uncertainty when it came to the ninth inning, so they gave the job to John Axford. That wasn't good enough, so they dropped him from the role and are working on a closer-by-committee which so far has done a pretty good job of spreading the blame around for blown games.

And that's it for the Cleveland team set from 2013 SEGA Card-Gen. I'll try to get around to the next team soon.

2013 SEGA Card-Gen Directory

Baltimore Orioles

Boston Red Sox

Cleveland Indians

Chicago White Sox

Detroit Tigers

Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Minnesota Twins
New York Yankees

Oakland Athletics
Seattle Mariners
Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers
Toronto Blue Jays
Arizona Diamondbacks
Atlanta Braves